| Sesame Street | |||||||||||||
| Gordon introduces Sally to Sesame Street | |||||||||||||
| Air date | November 10, 1969 (series premiere) | ||||||||||||
| Season | Season 1 (1969-1970) | ||||||||||||
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In the first episode of Sesame Street, Gordon takes a girl named Sally on a tour of Sesame Street, introducing her (and the viewers) to the various characters on the show. On the street, Sally meets the human cast -- Gordon, Susan, Bob, and Mr. Hooper -- as well as two Muppet characters, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.
Ernie and Bert appear for the first time and Kermit the Frog gives a lecture on the letter W, interrupted by an early version of Cookie Monster.
Also featured in this episode are the first installments of the "Number Song Series" and "Jazz" cartoons, the first appearance of a group of Anything Muppets, and the first performance of "One of These Things." Carol Burnett is the first celebrity guest to appear on the show.
In this episode, many sketches are introduced by the characters, even within the inserts. This reflects the fact that the show was initially conceived as a children's version of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. For example, Gordon asks Kermit to give his W lecture, and when the sketch begins, Kermit says that Gordon asked him to talk about the letter W.
| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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SCENE 1 | "Sally, you've never seen a street like Sesame Street. Everything happens here. You're gonna love it," says Gordon as he introduces his new neighbor, Sally, to Sesame Street. She meets Bob, Mr. Hooper, Susan, and some kids in the yard. Gordon then tries to introduce her to Sesame Street's tallest resident, Big Bird, who has trouble finding her because she's so small. Gordon lifts Sally up so that she'll be easier to see, but Big Bird gets scared, thinking that she is eight feet tall. He realizes his mistake and claims that he nearly laid an egg. Gordon and Sally then hear singing coming from the basement apartment in 123 Sesame Street, which Gordon explains is where Ernie and Bert live. He also tells Sally that, if she can hear Ernie singing, it most likely means that he is taking a bath. |
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Muppets | Ernie & Bert — Ernie tells Bert that he calls his bathtub Rosie, because after his bath, he leaves a ring around Rosie. Bert then tells Ernie to get out of the tub, because other people are waiting to use it: Solomon Grundy, for instance. |
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Cartoon | Poor Solomon Grundy washes a different part of the left side of his body every day, but at the end of the week, "he's still half dirty!" |
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Film | You can clean almost anything. Music: Bach's "Gavotte" performed by the Swingle Singers. cut from the DVD version |
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Song | Ernie leads the cast in "Everybody Wash." |
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Cartoon | Dot Bridge #1: Dots appear uniformly |
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Film | "Three Song (Song of Three)" |
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SCENE 2 | Sally has milk and cookies in Gordon and Susan's apartment. |
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Film | How milk is made, featuring the song "Hey Cow." |
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Cartoon | Dot Bridge #1 (repeat) |
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SCENE 3 | Gordon directs Sally to a noisy trash can, the home of Oscar the Grouch. Gordon knocks on Oscar's can so he can introduce him to Sally, but he refuses to come out. After Gordon knocks again, Oscar finally meets Sally and already takes a liking to her because, in the short time they've met, she hasn't banged on his can or "bugged me in general... which is more than I can say about some people I know!" |
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Cartoon | Clay animation: Sam the Snake-and other things that begin with S |
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SCENE 4 | Gordon introduces Sally to Jennie, who uses her knitting to teach about over, around and through. |
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Film | A group of kids play follow the leader and go over, around and through various obstacles, but one of them takes a while to catch on. When this episode aired as part of the Sesame Street Unpaved series, Noggin removed everything after the initial "around" part. The HBO Max release cuts the segment entirely. |
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Cartoon | Dot Bridge #2: Last dot is late and travels through the others |
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Cartoon | Alice Braithwaite Goodyshoes teaches about through. |
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Cartoon | Dot Bridge #3: Last dot shows up early |
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Muppets | Gordon puts some features on some Anything Muppets, forming them into a family. They all sing "Consider Yourself." The song "Consider Yourself" was removed from DVD releases of the episode. As a result, the scene fades out after Gordon finishes dressing the family. |
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Cartoon | Dot Bridge #4: Third dot wants to be red |
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SCENE 5 | Ernie and Ronald are at Hooper's Store. Susan comes in to order two quarts of milk. |
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Film | "Two Song (Song of Two)" |
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SCENE 6 | Susan and Ronald look at film clips with pairs of zoo animals. |
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Cartoon | "Jazz #2" |
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SCENE 7 | Ernie cries because he loves the number 2 so much. Bert snaps Ernie out of it and introduces a letter E film...causing Ernie to cry again, since E happens to be his favorite letter. |
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Cartoon | E Imagination Artists: The Hubleys |
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SCENE 8 | Bob hangs a picture for Gordon. Gordon mentions Buddy and Jim offered to hang it for him and they imagine the disastrous results... |
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Cast | Buddy and Jim hang a picture. |
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Cartoon | Dot Bridge #5: All the dots turn red |
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SCENE 9 | Bob shows how to fold a dollar bill into a letter W. Kermit then leaves to do his famous W lecture. |
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Cartoon | "Wanda the Witch" Animation by Tee Collins |
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Muppets | Kermit's Lectures: Kermit talks about the letter W. Cookie Monster eats the W. |
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Cartoon | "Wanda the Witch" (repeat) |
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Celebrity | Carol Burnett: "Wow, Wanda the Witch is weird." |
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Cartoon | W is for Worm cut from the Noggin version |
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Muppets | Kermit's Lectures: Kermit tries to start his W lecture again, but the W comes to life and attacks him. |
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Cartoon | Dot Bridge #6: Dot blows raspberry |
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Cast | Susan plays "One of These Things" with the number 2 and the letter W. |
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Cartoon | W is for Worm (repeat) |
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SCENE 10 | Gordon is joined by Ernie, Bert, and Susan on the front stoop as they talk to Sally about her day, listing off the people she's met and the things she's learned. Ernie starts crying when Gordon mentions the number 2. Susan gives Ernie a 2 to console him, but he breaks down again at the mention of the letter E. Gordon tells the viewers to come back again soon. Mr. Hooper announces the sponsors in voiceover. |
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CLOSING SIGNS | A group of Muppet hippies (including a bearded hippie) hold up the Sesame Street sign, while Mr. Hooper holds up the Children's Television Workshop sign. |
Alterations[]
| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Song (DVD release) |
Joe Raposo sings "A Little Bit (at the Beginning)" along to a film of "good things growing better." This segment was not in the original broadcast of the episode. It appears on the episode's 2006 DVD release, where it replaces "You can clean almost anything." It's shown after Oscar's debut. |
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Insert (2019 YouTube livestream) |
Big Bird tries to play jump-rope with the kids as the credits roll. This scene, originally from Episode 0010, was shown after Mr. Hooper announces the letter and number sponsors. Afterwards, no CTW mentions are shown. |
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Insert (HBO Max release) |
The closing scene from Episode 0005, with the book mention intact, is shown after Mr. Hooper announces the letter and number sponsors. A 1971 copyright screen replaces the funding credits. |
Notes[]
- This episode can be viewed in its entirety at the Museum of Broadcast Communications Archives.
Gallery[]
Behind the scenes of "Consider Yourself."
Sources[]
| Previous episode: | Next episode: |
| Sesame Street Pilot Episodes | Episode 0002 |